Health Authorities "Plan for Updated Vaccine Vaccination to Be Decided by Next Month"

The temporary COVID-19 screening site set up at Seoul Station Plaza on the 25th is crowded with citizens seeking testing. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The quarantine authorities have decided to finalize the COVID-19 updated vaccine inoculation plan within next month.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) stated in an explanatory document released that day, "We plan to announce the effectiveness, safety, introduction timing, and available quantity of the updated vaccine comprehensively around the end of August."

According to the KDCA, when the government signs vaccine contracts with pharmaceutical companies, it allows for the introduction of updated vaccines if they are developed. The amount of mRNA vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna) to be introduced within the year is about 60 million doses, which is sufficient for vaccinations in the second half of the year.

The updated vaccines are those developed by pharmaceutical companies targeting the Omicron variant. Compared to existing vaccines, which were effective in preventing severe illness or death rather than infection from the Omicron variant, the updated vaccines are expected to prevent Omicron infection itself. However, it remains uncertain whether they will have a significant preventive effect against variants recently detected domestically.

The KDCA said, "We are in frequent consultation with pharmaceutical companies for the rapid introduction of updated vaccines and are continuously conducting expert consultations to ensure safe and effective vaccinations," adding, "We plan to monitor the quarantine situation, trends of new variant outbreaks, development trends of updated vaccines, and overseas vaccination policies to specify detailed vaccination strategies."

The authorities also noted that other countries announcing updated vaccine inoculation plans are still at the stage of presenting general directions rather than specific vaccination schedules.